How are your trees doing? Update time.

I know it has been a tough summer for many of us and I was how wondering how your trees are faring?

Between all the extreme heat, bugs and accidents, I was hoping your trees are ok.

I have not been able to fertilize as much as I wish too due to a severe heel injury and I try to volunteer anyone who comes to my house for any reason to visit. So far I am getting by, but just barely.

Lets see some of your babies whether good or bad and let us know what is going on.

These are my most special babies so I had someone make them accessible to water and fertilize regularly on one leg all near my barn section because they are the only ones I could reach.lol. It has finally stopped raining and I had a few moments. I wish I could reach my dozens of others and they are not looking so great. When I can get someone to take a pic of them, I will.

Now Mike......... I took a couple of special pics just for you. Here are a couple of gardenias I can not afford to stop feeding. So they are close by. Enjoy

my potted citrus arent so well in this texas heat, some got curled leaves on one, undersized fruits in a couple containers and dropped fruit and blackened branches in another...
and i water them about 3 times a week, go figure

Great photos - I love that your citrus & plants have such a wonderful deep-green color! I'm sorry to hear about your heel, I hope you're much better soon.

Since I've not yet posted photos in this forum of any of the citrus in my garden, I thought I'd do so now.

Fortunately, we haven't had the hot temps in SF that has afflicted the great majority of the country, but we do have our own set of challenges to contend with here, namely Summer wind and fog (and having only tiny plots of land [if any] to plant). I live on a hill in the southern part of the City and every Mar/Apr through Aug/Sept, as the inland valley heats up during the day, it inhales marine air from the coast that causes the characteristic Summer wind and fog to travel Eastward across SF toward the Bay. It's not uncommon that throughout Summer, (depending on the day) my area will see fog from 5 p.m. 'til noontime the next day and temps from the mid-60s (day) to mid-50s (night). Brisk winds are usually blowing all day until late afternoon or early evening hours... And I consider myself lucky for getting SOME sun. 3 miles away closer to the ocean, some neighborhoods (like the Sunset or Richmond) NEVER see sun all Summer! The chilling winds and fog are exactly the reasons I hadn't tried citrus growing in SF until recently - I always associated citrus growing with Southern CA(!) where I grew up. I read that Meyer lemon trees grew in SF, but I assumed that these trees lived in even warmer and less windy parts of the City.

Last March (2010), I finally decided to experiment with my first citrus. I bought 3 (Four Winds) Meyer lemon trees from my local nursery and planted them on a narrow strip of dirt next to my driveway. As you can see from the pictures below, they are located on the North side of a neighbor's wall and boxwood hedge (yet they still manage to get a lot of overhead sun during the Summer months). Since the winds come from up that hill, I figured that the boxwood and wall would serve as a good wind-screen until the trees grew a bit bigger/stronger. Since my soil is composed of dry clay, I first amended it with loamy potting soil. I also added a little bit of avocado&citrus granular fertilizer according to instructions on the box. Each tree is planted in a raised mound (for extra good drainage) and mulched with tumbled river rocks. During the first year, I watered approxately 5 gal/twice weekly. This (2nd) year however, I've tapered back to once weekly and I intend to decrease even more next year to every other week, with the goal of watering only once every 3 or 4 weeks, given CA droughts. I fertilize with Miracid (Azalea, Hydrangea, Rhododendron) Miracle-Gro 2x/month from Spring to Fall.

So far, so good. To date, I've counted a total of nearly 30 hanging fruit ranging from marble- to full-sized lemons, with many new baby lemons from this year's growth on the way. On the tree closest to the street (which gets the most sun), there are 4 lemons that are already yellowing, so I think they will be ready to pick by this Winter! The only major pest issue I've had to contend with (that I pick off manually instead of using pesticides) is a small wriggly, leaf-eating/leaf-rolling green caterpillar called 'Archips argyrospila'.

About 2 weeks ago, inspired by my ability to keep the 3 Meyers alive, I research on-line for an orange that would perform well in SF's cool/foggy climate and came across the Trovita orange. Fortunately, I found (the last) one at my local Lowe's and I planted it just as I had the Meyers. But this time, I placed on the other side of the driveway, in my front yard proper. This South facing area gets even more direct sun than the Meyers, but unfortunately, it also gets much more of the buffeting winds. I'm starting off with twice weekly watering for now, but I'll see how it goes and will adjust to more if the winds are too drying. If any of you have experience/words of wisdom with a Trovita in a windy environment, I'd really appreciate any sage advice!

3 IML trees, planted late-March 2010. Each was between 1-1.5 ft. tall initially; IML#3 is in the foreground. The entire strip was originally planted with lavendar, some of which I've removed and others I've trimmed to give the trees room to grow:

IML#3 (closest to the street), late-March 2010:

3 IML trees, early-Aug. 2011. Each tree's now a bit over 3 ft. tall and have a total of about 30 fruit (+ many babies):

Hi Josh! Yes, I'm surprised by the amount of growth, but even more so by the length of time it's taking the fruit to ripen! I figure it'll be almost 1.5 years for my first harvest...I figure it might have something to do with the sun/heat quality (rather lack thereof). BTW, I neglected to mention that I was happy to finally see your Ponderosa lemon (in 511, right?). How old is it & how long's it been in the soilless mix?

How do you do it? How can you look at fog for that many days? It seems though that your trees are very happy despite that. I too can not believe the amount of growth on yours. Beautiful plants and all. Good to see you around again.

Thanks Jodi. What I pleasure to see you here as always.Very much appreciated!

Mike: Bring your gardenia in until the heat passes.

Good luck on your heat Jojo, Mike and Charles!

More pics to come once I feel a bit better and the sun comes out. It is funny. BUt all I have been hearing of is the hottest weather in centuries and yet I have not had HOT beach weather for most of this summer.

I am grateful that my little Meyer lemon is still alive. The goal this summer was to keep it in more sun, but that would be crazy in our unbelievable stretch of crazy unrelenting not-cooling-down-at-night heat (Central Oklahoma). So it is in partial shade.

It only has two lemons but is putting on a few new leaves. I, too, am considering bringing it in, but it is "supposed" to start cooling off a little, and I want it to get all the light it can before winter.

Great thread! I love seeing all the tree's! Your's are looking good considering your hobbling around. :-)

Everyone's tree's look great!

I'll see if I have any pics I can add later. My pink is getting new growth finally! Wooo Hooo!!! I've been pouting because Josh's has been growing like crazy! LOL!! O.K. Josh, if mine is getting new growth than it should be your turn for blooms! ;-)

My little cutting is doing good. No new growth, but holding up good.

I register my soon today, so if I survive that (lol) I'll try and get a few pics up. He's a freshman now, and I officially feel old. LOL!

Here in Tampa, Florida, my four citrus trees are doing fine (Zone 9A). I planted three of them last year, and one this spring. All made it through the winter okay, despite temperatures in the upper twenties. I've been fertilizing monthly, which seems to help. I water once or twice a week with a drip system for about an hour. No pests have caused any damage yet. I picked all of the fruit this year early to encourage foliage growth.

Meyer Lemon - New vegetation growing like crazy. This plant has flowered repeatedly, but I keep removing them to encourage more foliage. Plant is now about 2.5 feet tall and wide.

Valencia Orange - Growth comes in spurts. It is now shooting out about 25 new leaves. The old leaves are not as dark green as I expected, but not sure why. Plant is three feet tall and wide. I pulled one fruit early.

Satsuma Mandrin - It took a long time for this beauty to wake from her winter break, but she roared back to like with tons of new leaves. I'm waiting for another growth spurt from her right now. Plant is three feet tall and wide. I pulled about eight fruits early.

Marsh Grapefruit - I just planted it in spring, with not much new growth since then. I pulled one fruit early. Tree is four feet tall and three feet wide.

I haven't been on here since Feb or March, and haven't taken any new pics - they will be coming soon. I was diagnosed with cancer - thankfully early, and after some intense treatments between March and July am now in remission thankfully. I spent a lot of time away from my plants - my mother lives 100 miles away, but is a retired medical professional, so being there during the worst of it was like having med care round the clock. My plants were in the care of my housemate, which is a risky thing but necessary at the time.

Thus, they were semi-neglected; miraculously they have mostly come thru like champs. The yuzu needs some serious TLC, however the pummelo, sudachi, eureka lemon and meyer lemon are all thriving. It's been very hot here, but not too hot, and we've had breaks and occasional rain here, so the benign neglect seemed to be ok for all except for the yuzu. My guava trees (strawberry, red and apple guava - one each) have also really taken off; those are gorgeous plants once established.

I have a question - my calamondin is covered in buds now and about to bloom for the first time. How to proceed? Should it set fruit, should I leave them all on, given that it has never bloomed or set fruit before? I'd love some fruit, but don't wanna stress it either. It's a grafted, 4 or 5 year old container tree, only about 4 feet tall but very shrubby / branchy...

As a trivia note - I tossed a satsuma tangerine into my compost pile last summer. It sprouted, and the sprout survived a North Carolina winter, including nights down to 10 degrees. By spring, it was still alive, not happy looking, but alive. Still alive. Tiny - I may take it out of the ground and put it in a pot, as it isn't as big as it should be at 12 months (it's tiny, but has a few full sets of leaves). Or I may not, let it be a gardening experiment, to see the limits of what it really can take - we can have 10 degree winter nights and 100 degree summers (I'm near Raleigh)...

Betty: I hope your extreme heat passes soon so your trees can get some good growth again.

Houston: Wow! You have yourself some nice trees there! You are defying all odds in that heat and when it comes winter, I don't know how you do it?
Did you not loose some trees last winter. I think I remember the pics.
Beautiful what you have there.

Dave: Hey.I am so so sorry to hear of this. I had no idea why you were missing. Thank God you will be ok. Keep busy and keep your chin up and reward yourself with all you need for all that hard work to get better.
I am happy to see you are better.

I can understand what it's like to have to ignore trees once in a while and it can be frustrating. They can come through like champs and I am sure you must be doing a great job with them. I would love to see pics if you ever get the time.

Let the fruit and flowers do their thing on the Calamondin tree. It will be just fine and beautiful surrounded by all those colored fruit.

Welcome back Dave. I pray you will be ok from here on out. You are always a joy to have around man!

i lost a few plumerias due to rot from frost damaged tips. they were just noids bought at the ABC store in hawaii. no biggie.

the two navels had some frost damage, but survived.

with the triple digit heat and severe drought i've been using about 20,000 gallons of water per month the past couple of months to keep my plants and my lawn alive. plus i've put up several of those shadecloth tents to shade some of my trees, like my navels and japanese maples.

Nick, Rob, and Shrimpernickle, WONDERFUL pics. I enjoyed all of them, especially a few Mangos in there!

Laura: How are ya? Look at little Ponderosa. I just love it and it's looking so happy in your hands with that view. Why not, right?lol
Oh I love all your pics. How do you like that Mango tree? I almost bought one for myself, but I figure if I can't get enough strong sun to last long enough to give me lots of DR blossoms, then I might need that same sun to successfully grow a Mango. What do you think?
Thanks for the pics!\ and always good to see you around these parts.:-))))

Rob! I LOVE your 'pugged Moro". It is so beautiful!

Nick: Great job on the seedlings. Is it too cold to keep your citrus outside? If so, you are still doing a great job indoors. They are doing very well.

Jim: You have yourself a GREAT collection there. You should have flowers and fruit all time of the year. I hope they perform well for you.

Houston: I am so sorry to hear of your damage. I am glad some are coming back nice and strong.

It's not too cold really and I do have the Bears lime outside but the lemon and the Calamondim are still small and the smell of the blooms (which is almost constant ATM). The lime has no blooms as yet but it's got plenty of new leaves.

I'm a bit worried about my mix, on the newer ones, which although it drains well I think has something missing as the leaves are a bit yellow on all but the grapefruit.

You know, I would of been suprised if you mostly grew them indoors. They look to good for that:-)

I too will put a few of mine indoors to enjoy the fragrance. It hard too enjoy it when you are at work most of the time and don't have much time for the yard. When relaxing inside, the smell permiates the house. You can't get an air freshner to come even close to that.

What's in your mix? I have always wanted to try Kafiir Limes. I might buy some at the Asian Festival this year along with of course a Duke of Jasmine.

The Calamondim and Lemon have always been indoors and is a regular peat, vermiculite and perlite mix, they never seems to need much water or even fert.

The Grapefruit and Lime were bought 3 Months ago and have a mix of their original 'soil' , some uncomposted shreddings for a pine tree that was chopped from the garden, perlite, vermiculite. The lime has lots of new leaves which are bright green, rather than dark. You can actually see which has which mix in the pics, the basic peat,verm,perl seems to be making the leaves darker than the mix with the pine in it.

Hey, Nick, great trees.
Softwoods like pine, particularly shavings, can have an adverse effect on container mixes.
First, the particles decompose more rapidly and can cause soil collapse and impeded drainage.
Also, the rapid decomposition can bind or immobilize nitrogen, which could possibly lead
to a deficiency.

That speaks volumes my friend. I am anxious to see how your plants are and just thrilled to see you still around. How's the health been? Have you had the help needed? I hope so:-)))) Have you been able to get help with lifting your plants?

Nick, Picea abies (Norway spruce) bark should be just fine for use in a container mix.
You say the material is rough, so I assume you're using bark instead of the sapwood,
which is lighter in color (and looks like matchsticks). If there is a significant amount
of sapwood in your mix, that will cause problems eventually.

Hey Josh, could you spare a minute?lol. It is great to see you again buddy!

Buylady!!! Remember the first time we saw your trees and when we all met? I think Josh remembers.....My goodness have you come a long way! What an improvement and look at the green on your trees. Oh, I am so proud of you as I am sure many others here are. Just keep it up and by next year, they will be even more full.
I can't beleive the looks of your trees just a year later.

I guess using that mix, Foliage Pro, vinegar and making sure you keep your plants clean has been doing wonders for your trees. Bravo dear friend.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures . You know I have been waiting.

By the way, it could be another 4 weeks before I can walk again. I am being forced to apply some pressure on the ball of the foot since I was in the process of loosing bone mass. I hope this is over soon. Thank you for caring.
Physical therapy starts Monday.
I hope you are also ok and getting the help you need around the house.
Keep up the good job. You deserve a bow and a pat off the back here!

I've just seen everyones pics on my home computer, rathe than my phone screen and everyones trees look so well looked after

Greenman, the wood part of the mix is medium branches that have been chopped in a shredder so, its softwood,needles and bark.

I'm gathering from what everyone has said, it'll be needing nitrogen so I'm going to start with a high nitrogen feed (ammonium sulphate) intially for the seedlings and then something more balanced when its greened up a bit, does that sound ok? I don't think any of them are bad really :)

I'm looking for a new purchase, maybe a Pink Variagated Lemon, or some kind of Orange, although I'm not so keen on plain Oranges. I prefer Satsumas or Tangerines. I also like the sound of the Lemonade Citrus, as I believe it makes good juice has anyone tried one of these?

Latest on the Grapefruit is that over the last week all the little leaves are opening up and theres so many flower buds just waiting to open up.

hi ya Mikie an all...well i learned it all from you an others..did i tell you i had to have one of them gardenias can't wait to see it bloom...do you plant them if the same mix?? Mike! right now i got it in MG soil..i'm doin ok leg still gives me trouble but i put up w/it..do you put FP in gal of water and how often do you do it!! take care of that foot...hugs!! right back to ya

Buylady: You should give yourself all the credit since you are the one that applied all your knowledge and do a fine job at it!
Yes. All my gardenias are in the same 5.1.1 mix. It is mostly bark with a bit of perlite and peat.
I feed mine FP at every watering, sometimes I forget, especially lately. I give 1/4 capful to a gallon of water.
I will post a couple of pictures here in this thread just for you so you can see how they are doing.
I am sure you can be very successful at growing them with all of us here. I think the other Mike that comes here is doing very well with his too:-)
I always hope your legs are ok and that you can get around.
Come back soon and I will have some pictures for you

Many hugs back! Mike

Hello Nick:

Sounds like you have a plan. Keep a close eye on your plants and maybe read up on Nitrogen defficiency on Citrus to make sure you have the same exact symptoms since Citrus can react very poorly to an over abundance of one certain nuttrient.

You wiil not be dissapointed with a variegated pink lemon. They are so beautiful even out of bloom just for color. They brighten an area amoung all the other green plants.

Congrats on your new little leaves. Please keep us posted with pics and the like. Good day there:-)

Ok thx Mike, i'd love to see them mine is only bout 1 ft high..it already had that sticky white stuff on it an i spray it w/NO..looks ok now..what is that?? keeping eye on it...oh ok thx for rec. i'll start that morrow..HUG HUG

Buylady! Oh no, not that sticky white stuff..lol I know you can get rid of that. Don't be afraid to thin the leaves out in the center of your gardenia so no buggies will hide on you:-)
Tomorrow is picture time so come back, ok.
Hoping you are doing good today Buylady:-)

hey everyone..triming how??? Mike, i've never done that lol always tickled when every branch gets bigger...an i still can't get much fruit from these buggers what am i doing wrong there Mikie?? i turned that plant up side down and sprayed the heck out of it..ok so 1/4t to gal of water for FP then do you put the MG in it too??i was altenating them..i'll take a pic of it later today an post it thanks Josh love this site it has really helped me so ooooo much..

Your trees look fabulous, Karly! Looks like you're getting ready to place them in your yard? Are you planning on putting them in the ground, or will they be staying in containers? Or a combination of both, maybe? Your Calamondin looks fantastic.

I tried to take pictures of my gardenias last night but couldn't do it without help. I will make a try again this weekend. It is discouraging to have no one offer assistance with my tree of all the many people I know. What a joke, yet they all want my harvest and help with theirs.

When any of my plants ever have a problem with pest, I try and take out the inner leaves of my gardenia so when I spray I know I am hitting ALL the bugs with less surface area, especially in the center of mine. Thank God for citrus though having a much less dense are to worry about.

You can alternate FP and MG Buylady. Just make sure you are feeding in small doses every time you water,ok? Don't feed in sips but let the water run out from the bottom each time.

Looking good my friend! Got to go and cook breakfast. I will be back later:-)

Hi Patty and Mike! Thanks for all the kind words. I am hoping to put many of them in the ground this fall, and keep a few of the more ornamental ones in pots. We had about 15 years worth of overgrown trees and shrubs ripped out of our yard in April, so In the backyard I have a mostly clean slate to work with. It's been hard to figure out what to do with it though. This is my first house and first yard, so I'm not very experienced. I'm just proud that i've kept a good 25 citrus trees alive since the end of January, and they all look better than when I bought them.

Wow, that's a lot of potted management, Karly! Now that you've let the cat out of the bag, you're going to now have to list your varieties, lol!! Love to know what you've got as a collection. It's always fun to know what folks like for citrus, and why they're attracted to those varieties, especially the more unusual ones.

Karly: That is so NICE that you and Patty are caring for each other. Now that makes me smile. I am happy for the both of you. Now where are mines?!lol
I am happy form you in your new place too. I know how that feels. I started with a clean slate too and planted everything unique and fragrant and just built a pond before I broke my heel Have fun with our favorite trees!

You should have some real fun growing your trees in both. I can't wait to see the pictures.

Patty: Congrats on your new finding and friend! :-)))))

Buylady! Look at your Gardenia! Wowowowow. It looks awesome. I think I see a pest on it. I hope not. What is those little white things on top of the leaves? Your tree is small enough to take care of pest easily. Your plants are looking so nice my friend. I would help you out too if I lived closer, believe me on that! Anything I can do for you:-)

I last (and first) posted in this forum to try to identify one of my 3 citrus--thanks to the folks here I know it is a Calamondin. That one is doing beautifully, has lots of little fruits starting.
The 2nd one (still a mystery citrus) is growing like mad, but although it bloomed it didn't set fruit.
The 3rd (also a mystery tree) has been struggling the past month--the leaves have yellowed with the veins still dark green--after reading here, I thought I needed to repot it in a better draining mix as a first step. Well guess what I found when I did so? Two lovely, well buried walnuts (with husks). How those squirrels got those in there without disturbing the tree I will never know. I wonder if walnuts are toxic to citrus, as they are to many plants, if that was the cause of the problem (but I did think the soil was too dense as well).

well i dont have any pics, camera problems, but I can say that everything made it throught the intense heat we had and even most of the citrus is flushing new growth and my new kumquat is blooming. None of my fruit that set is getting to full size but I think its because they were already set when I did a spring repot and I think that has to do with it. I pugged my mango seedling and also my avacado and both have responded with new growth.

Brettay: You had me fooled! I thought your Bouquets de fleur sour orange was loaded with pink flowers! Your trees are very nice and thank you for sharing. I noticed they are very green, a must for me:-)

Hey Mike: I miss pictures of your trees. But it is great to know they are ok and that citrus can lower cholesterol! Take care.